Part Two: Getting Past Capital and Labor

Digital technology is shifting scarcity from capital to attention. That is the foundational argument of World After Capital. With the philosophical foundation out of the way now is the time to back this claim up with some numbers.

The argument will proceed as follows. First I will examine trends in population growth to show that fears of a further population explosion are unfounded. Then I will look at how much productive capital exists in the world relative to the basic needs of humanity. While that section needs a lot of work it contains some interesting statistics already on how much output we can produce relative to needs.

Even if capital is sufficient though, the other foundation of the current economy is employment through what I call the job loop. Most people earn a living by selling their labor and then using the wages to buy goods and services, which in turn are produced primarily by other job holders. That loop is being disrupted by digital technologies with important implications for how we could spend our time in the future.

Finally we will get to attention. In that section we will see why attention is the crucial scarcity for humanity going forward.